Varvel: Why ‘The View’s’ Joy Behar finally apologized to Mike Pence

Joy Behar of "The View" apologized Tuesday for suggesting mental illness was behind claims by people that Jesus Christ talks to them, in remarks made on her show last month about Vice President Mike Pence.
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'View' co-host Joy Behar has apologized privately to Vice President Mike Pence and publicly to Christians for a remark equating the belief that Jesus talks to people with mental illness.(Photo: USA TODAY Network/ABC)

“The View’s” Joy Behar this week finally apologized for mocking Vice President Mike Pence's faith -- and in doing so, the faith of millions of Christians.

In case you missed it, during a Feb. 13 episode of “The View” the panel discussed former White House staffer Omarosa Maingault-Newman’s claim on CBS’ “Celebrity Big Brother” that Pence “thinks Jesus tells him to say things.”

“I give Joy Behar a lot of credit,” Pence said. “She picked up the phone. She called me. She was very sincere. And she apologized. And one of the things my faith teaches me is grace. Forgive as you have been forgiven.”

But he also encouraged her to use her program or another public forum, “to apologize to tens of millions of Americans who were equally offended." The next day, she did just that.

So why did it take a month for her to do the right thing?

Apparently Pence’s rebuke plus a month-long campaign by the Media Research Center in which 43,000 phone calls were placed to ABC and its advertisers demanding an apology prompted Behar’s mea culpa.

That explains why Behar looked like she was in pain as she mouthed the words, “I think Vice President Pence is right. I was raised to respect everyone's religious faith, and I fell short of that. I sincerely apologize for what I said.”

Ouch. It took a lot of arm-twisting to get that apology, but I salute her for doing it.

Let's be honest, Behar would never have made that joke about any other religion. So why are Christians fair game? Because Christians usually turn the other cheek. But not this time.

In a statement issued by MRC, President Brent Bozell said, “This clearly has taken a toll on ABC and has left a black mark on advertisers Clorox, Gerber, Oreo and Home Advisor who were utterly silent in reply to the uproar from their Christian consumers. While our campaign is over, let it be made clear: we will not hesitate to come after any TV personality or media figure who engages in this type of anti-Christian bigotry. Nor will we spare any effort to denounce the sponsors of such hatred. Christians are fed up, and aren’t going to take it anymore.”

The silence of the lambs is no more. Tens of thousands voiced their complaints to ABC and Joy Behar finally heard and responded to the call.

Contact Varvel at gary.varvel@indystar.com. Friend him on Facebook at Gary Varvel and follow him on Twitter: @varvel.

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